Without a doubt, the life and legacy of Muhammad Ali has had a tremendous impact on popular culture. Growing up in Harlem at the height of Ali’s swaggering seventies heavyweight fame, it was impossible for me to escape the image and voice of the mighty man. Sitting in the barbershop, the Ebony and Jet magazine covers caught my eye, as did the poster reproduction of a colorful LeRoy Neiman painting on the faded white walls. On Saturday mornings in 1977, the champ had his own cartoon series on NBC, using his slogan “I Am the Greatest” as the title. Later in the day, one could see him interviewed on The Wide World of Sports, spouting his personal brand of poetry into the microphone of his homie Howard Cosell.

As essayist Charles P. Pierce puts it in the latest Esquire magazine, “There simply has never been an athlete who has so deeply affected all levels of society the way he has.” However, while Ali’s celebrity crossed class and color lines, making him into a stingin’ like a bee, brown butterfly international icon, his influence on the African-American communities throughout America still resonates in rap music, sports, fashion, literature, art and film.

In the new documentary Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ, directors Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah examine the significant power of the fighter’s potent politics, poetics and personality. The recently completed film debuts tonight, Wednesday, September 23 at the 19th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival and also premieres on BET shortly thereafter. “There have been other documentaries on Ali, but none have really talked about how his legacy affects our culture today,” Coodie, a Chicago native, says. “For a lot of people, Ali is still very much in their minds.”


http://www.soulhead.com/2015/09/23/muhammad-ali-the-peoples-champ-film-review-interview-by-michael-a-gonzales